Metal Geared
Posted by: j_john
Wow, that was one EPIC ride. A week after finishing the exhausting new GTA at 100% I have completed Hideo Kojima's fantastic "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater." Since I'm still experiencing the afterglow, I decided to take a quick look back at this excellent series.
Back in 1998 Kojima pioneered a new form of gaming entertainment, integrating traditional movie-style story cinematics with gameplay in "Metal Gear Solid". Some folks scoffed at the rather ambitious nature of the game (and its long stretches of exposition), but I appreciated how seriously Kojima took his art-form. He slipped up a bit with the follow-up, 2001's "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty", with an extremely difficult to follow plot and a new effeminate main character, the infamous Raiden. However, I was still excited to see what MGS3 had in store--I knew the gameplay would be rewarding and I was anxious to see how his storytelling had progressed.
[Regular Game Thumbers may remember Curt Merrill's MGS3 introduction from a few months back. By his own admittance, Mr. Merrill wasn't completely familiar with the storylines and characters, but was drawn into the world nonetheless. I have played every US release of the series going back to 1987 (including the original "Metal Gear" on NES, and the US-only sequel "Snakes Revenge"), and each time I enter into the world of tactical espionage action I am immediately impressed by the attention to detail and unique style of gameplay. The simple premise--sneaking around, avoiding detection, is always a welcome break from the traditional "destroy everything" style found in most games.]
Since Curt already touched on the new features for Snake Eater I will stick to the overall story and game development. Possibly due to the utter confusion of MGS2 I was continually amazed at how coherent this story was. The real-life framework of the 60s era Cold War allowed the mood to be instantly engrossing, without too much fake futuristic technology. Cinemas were never too long and always left you with interactive camera choices--plus you never knew when you might be required to make some button presses to determine your hero's fate. The title music was wonderfully James Bond-esque, and once again featured a score by Hollywood composer Harry Gregson Williams. I felt compelled to play for hours on end to see what new plot twist awaited me--and at almost 25 hours the length was certainly impressive. My only complaint might be the relative ease of the game, but then again I am still riding my confidence high from GTA. With MGS3 Kojima really has achieved what he set out to do over 7 years ago--elevate games to a new form of artistic, interactive entertainment. MORE PLEASE!
So Long San Andreas
Posted by: j_john
Our Experience With Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Mike: A couple of years ago John Afryl and I finished GTA: Vice City together in a moment of triumphant revenge. We were very excited to enter the new world of San Andreas and vowed to complete the game together. This turned out to be a bit of a problem when I was a little too busy to make time for gaming, which in a way led John on his quest of 100% completion.
John: Yeah, it developed into a way for me to explore the game and all of its side quests, waiting to play the main missions when Mike was available. I knew the game was huge, and it just seemed to make sense to see as much as possible. Plus, I obtained these weird British cheat magazines which contained valuable photo assistance so I could do things like "spray 100 gang tags" "collect all the oysters and horseshoes" and "complete all 70 unique jumps."
Mike: The side quests had two real benefits. One, it made John a much better player and he learned the maps. And two, the character gained access to better health, better weapons and vehicles, and eventually even became fireproof. This makes it sound like I was some kind of deadbeat partner, off on fancy dates with my lady while John toiled to complete vigilante missions. And while that is mostly true, I will take credit for making our little C.J. an incredibly rich man.
John: It was evident early into our time in SA that we were going to go deep. I remember coming home from work one night and Mike and Pete had been making a spreadsheet to keep track of the winners and losers at the off-site horserace-betting place. This financial success allowed us to buy anything we wanted, and made every reference to CJ's cut-scene character needing to make money all the more hilarious. Within a couple weeks after landing in San Andreas we were already a multi-millionaire.
Mike: Pete was a monster on getting the gang territories. As we started building up the powerbase for our Grove Street Families gang we had to take over more territory from both the Ballas and the Vagos in Los Santos. I remember coming in to find Pete owning almost the entire city, with C.J. dressed in nothing but his tighty-whities. Pretty amazing. The costume changes really added a new dramatic element to the game. We started as a petty street thug, buying new sneakers and gold chains, and then when the shit hit the fan and we had to hang out in the hills for a while we wore a wife-beater, trucker hat, and boots. We started dressing a little more preppy in San Fierro and finally we went all out in the sin city of Las Venturas. By the time we returned home to Grove Street we had a mix of all these styles which also felt very UrbanHonking. Green converse shoes to remind us of the Grove Street gang colors, the trusty blue jeans, a great suit jacket and tie from the Las Venturas days, and topped off with the flamboyant pink mohawk from San Fierro.
John: I've been trying to remember all that we've done in the game over the past 9 months, and mostly what sticks out are all of the hours I spent trying to master incredibly complicated side-missions. For instance, I dedicated an entire day once to getting past the attack helicopter mission at the flight school. When I finally accomplished my task I was more relieved than celebratory. Another memorably frustrating experience found me performing restart after restart for an auto race, probably trying it over 50 times. The weird part of my final total stats are realizing that even though it says it took me just under 134 hours to get 100% I actually played the game *well* over 200 hours. I honestly hope I don't ever try to do something this completist again--well perhaps I will if it involves not committing well over a half-year of my life.
Mike: The time it takes to just finish the game, to say nothing of the ridiculous attempt to get 100%, is astounding. I don't think I know anyone else who has ever completed Grand Theft Auto 3 (Liberty City--a much smaller game than SA), much less Vice City or San Andreas on 100%. On my own I'd probably never make it out of the first area. There is just too much you can do in a free-form game and I get way too much enjoyment out of betting on horse races, racing cars, and jumping off buildings. Watching and participating in this adventure has raised my own level of gaming and also my respect for John. John Afryl is my gaming mentor, a true master player who I can learn a lot from.
John: This could be an incredibly sad acknowledgement, but I don't think I've ever been this dedicated to one single task. I suppose there are school, athletic, and filmmaking accomplishments that fill me with a much, much greater sense of pride, but it's still rewarding to know that I tackled this challenge and didn't back down. I think of all the time the developers spent making the game (years) and this project has been my way to show my appreciation. Completists like me are the reason that many a Rockstar employee stayed up all night playtesting and fixing numerous bugs. Now I'm totally excited about playing a new game--in fact, I've already logged over 7 hours in Metal Gear Solid 3...ahh videogames.
